ORIGINAL ARTICLE Assessment of traumatic deaths in a level one trauma center in Ankara, Turkey E. D. Arslan • E. Kaya • M. Sonmez • C. Kavalci • A. Solakoglu • F. Yilmaz • T. Durdu • E. Karakilic Received: 25 November 2013 / Accepted: 14 July 2014 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract Trauma management shows significant pro- gress in last decades. Determining the time and place of deaths indicate where to focus to improve our knowledge about trauma. We conducted this retrospective study from data of trauma victims who were brought to a major tertiary hospital which is a level one trauma center in Ankara, Turkey, and died even if during transport or in the hospital between 1 March 2010 and 1 March 2013. The patients’ demographic characteristics, trauma mechanisms, time frames and causes of deaths determined by physicians were recorded. Traumas were grouped as ‘‘high energy trauma’’ (HET) and ‘‘low energy trauma’’ (LET). Falls from ground level were defined as LET. 209 traumatic deaths due to trauma or trauma-related conditions were found in the study period. 161 of 209 (78 %) patients suffered from HET. Motor vehicle collisions (MVC) (56 %) were the most common mechanism of trauma followed by burns (16 %), falls (11 %), gunshots (9 %) and stabs (6 %) in this group and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (41 %) were the most common cause of death followed by circulatory collapse (22 %) and multi-organ failure (20 %). 36 % of deaths occurred before arrival at hospital, 25 % in the first 24 h of admission, 18 % between 2nd and 7th day and 21 % after first week. Trimodal distribution of traumatic deaths was not valid for all types of injuries and the most important factor to decrease traumatic deaths is still pre- vention. Also we have to keep on searching to improve our knowledge about trauma management. Keywords Trauma Á Death Á Trimodal distribution Background Trauma management shows significant progress in last decades. Development of emergency medical systems, early transfer of trauma patients to a hospital, under- standing the pathophysiology of trauma, advances in diagnostic tools, procedures and emergency, surgical and intensive care unit management may have role on this progress. Despite these advances, in Western countries trauma is still the most common cause of death between ages 1 and 44 and the third common cause of death in all ages [1]. However, Turkish Statistical Institute reported that trauma and intoxications together are the fifth cause of death in all ages and also are the most common causes of death between ages 1 and 34 in Turkey [2]. Data of this institute also point out a mild increase of traumatic deaths in all ages between 2010 and 2012 in Turkey. The epide- miology of traumatic deaths in our country is not well searched, thus we aimed to assess trauma-related mortality and compare the results with those of previous studies. Material and method This retrospective study was conducted from data of trauma victims who were brought to our hospital and died E. D. Arslan (&) Emergency Medicine Department, Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: engindeniz.arslan@gmail.com E. Kaya Á M. Sonmez Á A. Solakoglu Á F. Yilmaz Á T. Durdu Á E. Karakilic Emergency Medicine Department, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey C. Kavalci Emergency Medicine Department, Baskent University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey 123 Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg DOI 10.1007/s00068-014-0439-y